This week’s cover features a very average-looking Jesus Christ, whose cover line urges we follow him—and ditch the church. The cover story is written by Andrew Sullivan, who who argues that Christianity in America is “in crisis,” as political issues like contraception, health care, and abortion have been usurped by religious thinking, and the kind of Christianity that is most essential and pure has been lost.
Here’s an excerpt (full story online and on newsstands tomorrow AM):
It seems no accident to me that so many Christians now embrace materialist self-help rather than ascetic self-denial—or that most Catholics, even regular churchgoers, have tuned out the hierarchy in embarrassment or disgust. Given this crisis, it is no surprise that the fastest-growing segment of belief among the young is atheism, which has leapt in popularity in the new millennium. Nor is it a shock that so many have turned away from organized Christianity and toward “spirituality,” co-opting or adapting the practices of meditation or yoga, or wandering as lapsed Catholics in an inquisitive spiritual desert. The thirst for God is still there. How could it not be, when the profoundest human questions—Why does the universe exist rather than nothing? How did humanity come to be on this remote blue speck of a planet? What happens to us after death?—remain as pressing and mysterious as they’ve always been? That’s why polls show a huge majority of Americans still believing in a Higher Power. But the need for new questioning—of Christian institutions as well as ideas and priorities—is as real as the crisis is deep.
LOL. Because a lack of logic, reason, reality and truth in religion has nothing to do with becoming agnostic or atheist. What a bunch of bull crap.
-FA
I’ll have to download myself a copy.
-Ty
Thousands of US atheists turn out for ‘Reason Rally’
AFP :: By Robert MacPherson
Thousands of atheists, agnostics and other non-believers turned out in the US capital on Saturday to celebrate their rejection of the idea of God and to claim a bigger place in public life.
The Reason Rally, sponsored by 20 atheist, secular and humanist groups, was billed as the biggest-ever “coming-out” party for the fastest-growing religious group in the United States — those with no religion.
“There are too many people in this country who have been cowed into fear of coming out as atheists, secularists or agnostics,” said the event’s star turn, Richard Dawkins, the British scientist and best-selling atheist author.
“We are far more numerous than anybody realizes,” he said, prompting a loud cheer from the youthful crowd that defied grey skies and drizzle for an afternoon of speeches, music and satire on the National Mall.
Jesse Galef of the Secular Student Alliance, a spokesman for the rally, told AFP he conservatively estimated the turnout at 10,000. The National Park Service, which oversees the mall, had issued a permit for 15,000.
In the center of the good-humored crowd rose a crucifix with an affixed sign that declared: “Banish the Ten Commandments to the dustbin of history.” Other posters read: “Good without a god” and “Hi Mom! I’m an atheist.”
“This country was not built on religion and God,” said another of the day’s speaker, Michael Shermer, a self-defined “skeptic” and columnist for the respected Scientific American magazine. “It was built on reason.”
“God fixation won’t fix our nation, because nothing fails like prayer,” added Annie Laurie Gaylor of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which is contesting Pennsylvania’s declaration of 2012 as “the year of the Bible.”
On the edges of the Mall, atheists engaged in vigorous debates with a handful of Christians who turned up with their own placards that read: “Study and obey the Bible” and “Jesus forgives sin.”
“Jesus Christ is your only hope,” exclaimed one soapbox preacher through a bullhorn. “Humble yourself today.”
In no other Western country does religion figure so highly in society as in the United States, where “In God We Trust” appears on bank notes and “one nation under God” is part of the national Pledge of Allegiance.
Yet the most recent American Religious Identification Survey, published in 2009, found that Americans with no religious affiliations — “the nones” in sociological jargon — make up 15 percent of the total adult population.
“That is more than Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists combined and doubled,” said David Silverman, president of American Atheists, which campaigns for the civil rights of non-believers.
David Roozen of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research in Connecticut said the number of Americans with no religious affiliation has “about doubled” in the last 20 years.
“It’s probably the fastest-growing category of religion in the United States,” the sociologist told AFP in a telephone interview earlier this week.
Silverman, who defines atheism simply as “the lack of belief in a god,” said a deep-seated fear of prejudice and discrimination leads many Americans with no religious affiliation not to acknowledge themselves as atheists.
Such discrimination, atheists say, includes a virtual inability to serve in public office, the risk of being fired by a religiously devout employer, denial of reproductive health care and religiously biased school texts.
“These are battles that homosexuals have won, people of color have won, women have won,” said journalist Jamila Bey, who recalled losing a job after her Christian boss learned she was an atheist. “We can’t stay silent anymore.”
“If the love of money is the root of all evil, why do churches ask for so much? And why would a god want his name on it?”
Excellent questions.
-Tyler
Rick Perry’s homophobic TV ad has 150K dislikes on YouTube. Give it a few more.
Fuck - he’s such a bigot!! If you haven’t seen this disgraceful video from Rick Perry, you need to watch it.
-Tyler
I H8 RELIGION
No More Religious Services in NYC Public Schools | Friendly Atheist
It’s official: Religious organizations can no longer use NYC public schools to hold worship services after hours.
The legalese: The Supreme Court recently declined to review a Second Circuitdecision, Bronx Household of Faith v. Board of Education of the City of New York, which upheld New York City Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) § 5.9 (now SOP § 5.11), which prohibited the use of school property for religious services.
What’s really going on: In 1994, the Bronx Household of Faith (BHF) applied to use space in a public school for its Sunday morning church services. Their application was denied because of something called SOP § 5.9. The BHF brought suit in federal court… and their suit was dismissed. This dismissal was later affirmed by the Second Circuit.
Then, however, the Supreme Court held in Good News Club v. Milford Central School (PDF) that it was unconstitutional for a public school district to exclude from its buildings a religious organization that planned to use the space to teach religious morals to school-aged children through the use of song, verse memorization, and lessons. The Court held that such exclusion amounted to “viewpoint discrimination,” because the district otherwise permitted use of the space “for the teaching of morals and character,” and was excluding the plaintiffs solely on the basis of their religious affiliation.
After this decision, BHF reapplied for a permit, was again denied, and again brought suit in federal court. This time, the district court issued a preliminary injunction against the Board forbidding them from denying the permit. The Second Circuit affirmed that preliminary injunction. When BHF petitioned for summary judgment (hoping for a permanent ruling in their favor, rather than a temporary injunction), the district court cited the decision in Good News Club and BHF succeeded: they were able to use school space for their services.
The Board then appealed to the Second Circuit. (Seeing a pattern here?) The Second Circuit held that the Board was allowed to exclude BHF in spite of the Supreme Court’s decision in Good News Club. According to the Second Circuit, in cases likeGood News Club, “the policy being enforced categorically excluded expressions of religious content. Here, by contrast, there is no restraint on the free expression of any point of view. Expression of all points of view is permitted. The exclusion applies only to the conduct of a certain type of activity — the conduct of worship services — and not to the free expression of religious views associated with it.”
Put differently, the Second Circuit accepted the SOP because it prohibited an activity (worship services) and not a viewpoint (Christianity, Christian morals, etc.).
To be blunt, I was shocked when I first read this case. I’m still a little shocked because, to me, the distinction between the activity of worship and the expression of Christian viewpoints sounds incredibly thin (especially considering that the activities at issue in Good News Club included singing). Where do you draw the line? If your group is teaching religious morals, then you’re good to go. But what if you’re teaching religious morals AND singing or praying? Does the activity cross over into “worship” as soon as a more overt act, like singing, genuflecting, etc. takes place?
According to the Second Circuit, “A worship service is an act of organized religion that consecrates the place in which it is performed, making it a church.” That doesn’t really help too much with the line-drawing, but what comes next actually makes me pretty happy: The court expresses concern that allowing such services in public schools will “promote a perception of endorsement.” This is excellent news! The court is concerned that allowing worship services in public schools will cause people to think that the government is pro-religion, or that religion is the right way to go. And honestly, I usually assume that this is exactly what the government thinks. (I’m not entirely wrong here, either: the United States Department of Justice filed an amicus brief supporting BHF.) Maybe I’m being overly optimistic, but it seems that we have here a court saying: Hey! It is important for people to understand that the government isn’t tilting the scales in favor of religion! It’s cool with us if you’re not religious, and we don’t want you feeling like we favor those who are.
This puts me in a good mood. Now if only we could do something about those tax breaks…
Source: Friendly Atheist
